Sir Anthony Hopkins reportedly relocated to the US because he found the London acting community to be "insufferable" and "f**king boring".

The 71-year-old actor allegedly never felt at home in the UK because the capital's acting community is "so very strange".

The Welsh-born star - who began his career on the London stage - said: "I went to America years ago because I felt I didn't fit in here in England. I worked with some good people, like Judi Dench, but I never fitted in to a group of actors.

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"I was on the outside, I was like a sore thumb. I didn't have any friends who were actors at all; I never did. I was always on the outside. It was difficult being in London in this very strange acting community. All that 'Theatre darling' - I just found it insufferable. It was f**king boring. So I moved to America and did what I'd wanted to do my whole life - make movies."

Nearly 30 years on, Hopkins stands by his decision to move to America, insisting that the decision ultimately made him a better actor.

He told Empire magazine: "[When I was] working with Katherine Hepburn, she said to me, 'Don't act. Read the lines. Just be'. I think actors from that generation were just wonderful. People say, 'They didn't act, they were always themselves'. Well, who else were they going to be? In England we have a tradition where everyone is acting. Too much acting."

As previously reported, Universal have denied that Hopkins is to reprise his role as Hannibal Lecter in a fourth movie.